May 22, 2021

775 years ago
1246

Germanica
With the support of Pope Innocent IV, Landgrave of Thuringia Henry Raspe was elected anti-king of the Kingdom of Germany in opposition to King Conrad IV.

260 years ago
1761

Americana
The first life insurance policy in the United States was issued in Philadelphia.

210 years ago
1811

Born on this date
Henry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle. U.K. politician. Mr. Pelham-Clinton was a Tory, then a Peelite, and then a Liberal, and succeded his father as Duke of Newcastle in 1851. He entered the House of Commons in 1832, and held several offices, including Secretary of State for War and the Colonies (1852-1854); Secretary of State for War (1854-1855); and Secretary of State for the Colonies (1859-1864). He left the latter post six months before his death on October 18, 1864 at the age of 53.

Giulia Grisi. Italian singer. Miss Grisi was one of the leding operatic sopranos of the 19th century, performing in Europe, South America, and the United States from the late 1820s through the 1850s. She died in Berlin at the age of 58 on November 29, 1869 after being injured in a train accident while travelling to St. Petersburg.

180 years ago
1841

Born on this date
Catulle Mendès. French writer. Mr. Mendès wrote several novels and collections of poetry, as well as plays and libretti for operas. Mr. Mendès died on February 8, 1909 at the age of 67. His body was found in the railway tunnel of the Paris suburb of Saint-Germain, and it was believed that he'd accidentally opened his train compartment door while the train was still moving, but others thought he'd committed suicide.

170 years ago
1851

Born on this date
Gilbert Ganong. Canadian confectioner and politician. Mr. Ganong, a native of Springfield, New Brunswick, moved to St. Stephen, N.B. and entered into a partnership with his brother James to establish Ganong Bros. in 1873, which became the largest manufacturer of confectionary products in Canada. Gilbert Ganong was a Liberal-Conservative and represented the New Brunswick riding of Charlotte in the Canadian House of Commons (1896-1908). He took office as Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick on June 29, 1917, but died of "intestinal toxemia complications with nephritis" on October 31, 1917 at the age of 66, after just four months in office.

Died on this date
Mordecai Manuel Noah, 65. U.S. playwright and journalist. Mr. Noah, a native of Philadelphia, was the first American-born Jew to reach national prominence. His best-known play was She Would Be a Soldier (1819). Mr. Noah wrote critical reviews of performances by Negroes at the African Grove Theatre in New York City, and has been identified as the creator of the Negro stereotype found in minstrel shows. He served as U.S. Consul to Tunis (1813-1815), where he rescued Americans who were being kept as slaves by Moroccan slaveowners. Mr. Noah attempted to create a Jewish refuge called Ararat on Grand Island in the Niagara River in New York, but he abandoned the attempt just two days after the community was proclaimed. He believed that American Indians were descended from the lost tribes of Israel, and supported the restoration of Jews to Palestine.

160 years ago
1861

Died on this date
Thornsbury Bailey Brown, 32. U.S. soldier. Private Brown was a member of the Grafton Guards, a Virginia militia or volunteer company that supported the Union, and was one of three members of the company who were on their way to Pruntytown, Virginia to recruit men for the Union Army. They encountered three members of a Virginia militia company with Confederate sympathies, and Pvt. Brown was shot dead, a week after his 32nd birthday, becoming the first Union soldier to be killed by a Confederate soldier during the American Civil War.

130 years ago
1891

Born on this date
Johannes R. Becher. German writer and politician. Mr. Becher was a novelist and poet who joined the Communist Party of Germany before World War II, escaped to Paris shortly after the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, and emigrated to the U.S.S.R. in 1935. He settled in East Berlin after World War II, and was a member of the Volkskammer. Mr. Becher died on October 11, 1958 at the age of 67.

Eddie Edwards. U.S. musician. Mr. Edwards was a trombonist with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, who made the first jazz recordings in 1917. Mr. Edwards later led his own band, and died on April 9, 1963 at the age of 71.

120 years ago
1901

Born on this date
Maurice J. Tobin. U.S. politician. Mr. Tobin, a Democrat, was Mayor of Boston (1938-1945); Governor of Massachusetts (1945-1947); and U.S. Secretary of Labor (1948-1953) in the administration of President Harry Truman. He opposed racial discrimination in hiring and supported the rights of workers. As Secretary of Labor, Mr. Tobin succeeded in moving several smaller bureaus into his department, thus increasing its influence. He died of a heart attack at the age of 52 on July 19, 1953, six months after leaving office.

Died on this date
Gaetano Bresci, 31. Italian criminal. Mr. Bresci moved to the United States in his late twenties, where he became involved with anarchists. He returned to Italy and assassinated King Umberto I on July 29, 1900. Mr. Bresci was sentenced to penal servitude for life on Santo Stefano Island, but was found dead in prison. He was reported to have hanged himself, but many suspected that he was murdered.

110 years ago
1911

Baseball
The Philadelphia Phillies claimed pitcher "Sleepy" Bill Burns from the Cincinnati Reds on waivers. Mr. Burns was 1-0 with a 3.06 earned run average in 6 games with Cincinnati in 1911, batting .429 (3 for 7) with 1 run batted in.

The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Boston Rustlers 3-1 at South End Grounds in Boston, handing Boston pitcher Cliff Curtis (0-5) his 23rd consecutive loss, a major league record. Mr. Curtis’s streak began on June 13, 1910, and he lost his last 18 decisions that year, when the team was known as the Doves. Slim Sallee (4-2) pitched a 4-hit complete game victory.

100 years ago
1921

Born on this date
George S. Hammond. U.S. chemist. Dr. Hammond taught at several institutions, including California Institute of Technology (1958-1972), and won numerous awards. He developed "Hammond's postulate" in 1955, and was known as the father of organic photochemistry. Dr. Hammond died on October 5, 2005 at the age of 84.

80 years ago
1941

War
Sources in Ankara reported that British troops in Iraq had advanced from Fallujah to within 20 miles of Baghdad, driving 10,000-12,000 Iraqi troops before them. As German troops continued to land on Crete, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill disclosed that the Royal Air Force had been forced to abandon its Cretan airports because they were badly damaged. U.K. Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden declared that if the Vichy French regime actively assisted Germany, "we shall naturally hold ourselves free to attack the enemy wherever he may be found."

Defense
U.S. War Secretary Henry Stimson denounced the Neutrality Act as a violation of the U.S.A.'s most important tradition of foreign policy, freedom of the seas. U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover disclosed that the FBI was mobilizing 150,000 local and state law enforcement officers on a voluntary basis to aid in the drive against fifth column agents. 100 American writers--including Stephen Vincent Benet, Edna Ferber, Thomas Mann, Upton Sinclair, and Hendrik Willem van Loon, issued a manifesto urging "all aid and at once--whatever that may have to mean" to the United Kingdom.

Labour
U.S. Navy trucks driven by sailors and Marines carried non-striking American Federation of Labor shipyard workers through picket lines at two yards in San Francisco; the local Congress of Industrial Organizations protested to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Health
The American Social Hygiene Association reported that tests administered to 1,897,599 people over a five-year period indicated that 3 out of every 100 adults in the United States had syphilis.

75 years ago
1946

Died on this date
Karl Hermann Frank, 48. German bureaucrat. SS Obergruppenführer Frank, a Sudeten German, was Reich Minister for Bohemia and Moravia during the Nazi regime's occupation during World War II. He was hanged using the Austro-Hungarian "pole method" before 5,000 onlookers in the courtyard of Pankrác Prison in Prague for his role in organizing the massacres of the people of the Czech villages of Lidice and Ležáky in 1942.

Crime
Former Canadian Research Council engineer Edward W. Mazerall was found guilty in Ottawa of revealing secret information to the U.S.S.R.

Diplomacy
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Tom Connally (Democrat--Texas) protested the efforts of the foreign ministers of the U.S.A., U.S.S.R., U.K., and France to write peace treaties before convocation of a general peace conference.

Defense
U.K. Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin announced plans to demobilize 200,000 Polish troops under British control in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy.

Politics and government
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida completed his new conservative cabinet, and took office with Allied approval.

Economics and finance
U.S. President Harry Truman signed the emergency housing bill, providing $400 million in subsidies for building materials.

Labour
The U.S. House of Representatives blocked efforts to revive the Fair Employment Practices Commission.

70 years ago
1951

On television tonight
Suspense, on CBS
Tonight’s episode: Escape This Night, starring Judith Evelyn and Theo Goetz

Diplomacy
Poland and the U.S.S.R. exchanged small pieces of Ukrainian territory: Poland ceded a strip east of Lublin to link the Lvov-Kovel railraod line, and obtained a gas and oil-rich tract in the Drohobych area.

Israel bowed to United Nations pressure and agreed to suspend swamp-draining operations on Arab-owned land along the Syrian border.

Protest
30,000 Iranians staged an anti-American and anti-British demonstration in Tehran, threatening a Muslim holy war if necessary to nationalize the country's oil industry.

Politics and government
Actor Jose Ferrer appeared before the U.S. House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee to deny that he had ever been a Communist, but admitted giving his name to "good causes" that turned out to be Communist fronts.

Society
The U.S. National Father's Day Committee named Senator Estes Kefauver (Democrat--Tennessee), father of four children, Father of the Year.

Economics and finance
Bowing to American pressure, British authorities in Singapore banned exports of rubber to Communist China and Hong Kong.

60 years ago
1961

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Quince Años Tiene Mi Amor--Dúo Dinámico (10th week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): Et maintenant--Gilbert Bécaud (4th week at #1)

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 Mother-in-Law--Ernie K-Doe
2 Runaway--Del Shannon
3 Daddy's Home--Shep and the Limelites
4 A Hundred Pounds of Clay--Gene McDaniels
5 Travelin' Man--Ricky Nelson
6 Mama Said--The Shirelles
7 Running Scared--Roy Orbison
8 Breakin' in a Brand New Broken Heart--Connie Francis
9 Hello Mary Lou--Ricky Nelson
10 I've Told Every Little Star--Linda Scott

Singles entering the chart were Tell Me Why by the Belmonts (#81); Anna by Jorgen Ingmann & his Guitar (#82); Milord by Teresa Brewer (#83); Pick Me Up on Your Way Down by Pat Zill (#91); Ronnie by Marcy Joe (#92); Lonesome Whistle Blues by Freddy King (#94); I Fall to Pieces by Patsy Cline (#96); Heart and Soul by the Cleftones (#98); Quarter to Three by U.S. Bonds (#99); and Driving Wheel by Junior Parker (#100).

Diplomacy
United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther, former U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and Johns Hopkins University President Milton Eisenhower, who had organized a group called the Tractors for Freedom Committee to buy 500 U.S. tractors to donate to Cuba, met in Washington with 10 Cuban rebels who had been paroled by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro after the Bay of Pigs invasion in April and had been sent to the U.S. to negotiate the exchange of tractors for prisoners.

50 years ago
1971

Hit parade
#1 single in Rhodesia (Lyons Maid): Understanding--Peanut Butter Conspiracy

#1 single in Italy (FIMI): Theme from Love Story--Francis Lai (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Un banc, un arbre, une rue--Séverine (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in the U.K. (BMRB): Knock Three Times--Dawn (2nd week at #1)

Australia's Top 10 (Go-Set)
1 Me and Bobby McGee--Janis Joplin
2 What is Life/Apple Scruffs--George Harrison
3 Another Day--Paul McCartney
4 She's a Lady--Tom Jones
5 Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep--Middle of the Road
--Lally Stott
6 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson
7 I'll Be Gone--Spectrum
8 Amazing Grace--Judy Collins
9 Armstrong--Reg Lindsay
10 Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted--The Partridge Family

Singles entering the chart were Song for Suzie by the Dudley Moore Trio (#50); Put Your Hand in the Hand, with versions by Allison Durbin; and Ocean (#52); Baby Jump by Mungo Jerry (#58); and One Hundred Children/Danny Boy by Kimahl (#60).

Netherlands Top 10 (De Nederlandse Top 40)
1 Underneath the Blanket Go--Gilbert O'Sullivan (2nd week at #1)
2 Brown Sugar--The Rolling Stones
3 Soldiers Prayer--Oscar Harris and the Twinkle Stars
4 Funny, Funny--The Sweet
5 Loop di Love--J. Bastós
6 Proud Mary--Ike & Tina Turner
7 Rosetta--Georgie Fame & Alan Price
8 Waarheen, Waarvoor...--Mieke Telkamp en De Hi-Five
9 Love Her Madly--The Doors
10 It Don't Come Easy--Ringo Starr

Singles entering the chart were Put Your Hand in the Hand by Ocean (#20); Middernacht by Gebroeders Brouwer (#25); We Gaan Naar Londen by Willy Alberti en De Ajax Supporters (#26); If by Bread (#28); Vlammetjes by Helga (#32); Jij Bent de Allerbeste by Heintje (#33); and (Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go by Curtis Mayfield (#39).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Billboard)
1 Joy to the World--Three Dog Night (6th week at #1)
2 Never Can Say Goodbye--The Jackson 5
3 Brown Sugar--The Rolling Stones
4 Put Your Hand in the Hand--Ocean
5 Me and a You and a Dog Named Boo--Lobo
6 Want Ads--The Honey Cone
7 Bridge Over Troubled Water/Brand New Me--Aretha Franklin
8 It Don't Come Easy--Ringo Starr
9 If--Bread
10 Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)--Daddy Dewdrop

Singles entering the chart were High Time We Went/Black-Eyed Blues by Joe Cocker (#79); Light Sings by the 5th Dimension (#82); Puppet Man/Resurrection Shuffle by Tom Jones (#88); Don't Pull Your Love by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds (#90); I Don't Wanna Lose You by Johnnie Taylor (#92); Never Ending Song of Love by Delaney & Bonnie & Friends (#94); Follow Me by Mary Travers (#95); Get it On by Chase (#96); What You See is What You Get by Stoney and Meatloaf (#98); and I've Found Someone of My Own by the Free Movement (#100).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Cash Box)
1 Joy to the World--Three Dog Night (6th week at #1)
2 Never Can Say Goodbye--The Jackson 5
3 Put Your Hand in the Hand--Ocean
4 Bridge Over Troubled Water--Aretha Franklin
5 Brown Sugar--Rolling Stones
6 Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)--Daddy Dewdrop
7 Love Her Madly--The Doors
8 Want Ads--The Honey Cone
9 Me and You and a Dog Named Boo--Lobo
10 It Don’t Come Easy--Ringo Starr

Singles entering the chart were Puppet Man by Tom Jones (#52); Done Too Soon by Neil Diamond (#81); I Know I'm in Love by Chee Chee and Peppy (#82); I Don’t Wanna Lose You by Johnnie Taylor (#84); I Don’t Want to Do Wrong by Gladys Knight and the Pips (#89); What You See is What You Get by Stoney and Meatloaf (#93); Mozart Symphony No. 40 in G Minor 1st Movement by Waldo De Los Rios (#96); Walk Away by the James Gang (#97); Wholesale Love by Buddy Miles (#98); and Awaiting on You All by Silver Hawk (#100).

U.S.A. Top 10 (Record World)
1 Brown Sugar--The Rolling Stones
2 Bridge Over Troubled Water--Aretha Franklin
3 Joy to the World--Three Dog Night
4 Stay Awhile--The Bells
5 Never Can Say Goodbye--The Jackson 5
6 If--Bread
7 Want Ads--The Honey Cone
8 Me and You and a Dog Named Boo--Lobo
9 Love Her Madly--The Doors
10 I Love You for All Seasons--Fuzz

Singles entering the chart were Light Sings by the 5th Dimension (#52); Puppet Man by Tom Jones (#65); Don't Pull Your Love by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds (#74); Here Comes that Rainy Day Feeling Again by the Fortunes (#79); Tarkio Road by Brewer and Shipley (#83); Brand New Me by Aretha Franklin (#86); Flim Flam Man by Barbra Streisand (#87); Ooh Poo Pah Doo by Ike & Tina Turner (#88); It's Hard for Me to Say Goodbye by Eddie Kendricks (#89); Signs by the Five Man Electrical Band (#94); Your Love (Means Everything to Me) by Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Band (#95); I'll Erase Away Your Pain by the Whatnauts (#96); Bring the Boys Home by Freda Payne (#97); Wholesale Love by Buddy Miles (#98); Mandrill by Mandrill (#99); and Only One Song by Sha Na Na (#100).

Canada’s Top 10 (RPM)
1 Joy to the World--Three Dog Night (5th week at #1)
2 Brown Sugar--The Rolling Stones
3 Love Her Madly--The Doors
4 It Don’t Come Easy--Ringo Starr
5 Woodstock--Matthews’ Southern Comfort
6 Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)--Daddy Dewdrop
7 The Drum--Bobby Sherman
8 Me and You and a Dog Named Boo--Lobo
9 Timothy--The Buoys
10 Oh What a Feeling--Crowbar

Singles entering the chart were Signs by the Five Man Electrical Band (#61); Light Sings by the 5th Dimension (#66); Double Lovin’ by the Osmonds (#70); Life by Elvis Presley (#71); High Time We Went by Joe Cocker (#72); It’s Too Late by Carole King (#89); In the Land of the Few by the Poor Souls (#90); Satori by the Flower Travelling Band (#94); Tarkio Road by Brewer and Shipley (#96); Reach Out Your Hand by the Brotherhood of Man (#97); Never Ending Song of Love by Delaney & Bonnie & Friends (#98); Be Nice to Me by Runt (#99); and Flim Flam Man by Barbra Streisand (#100).

Calgary’s Top 10 (Glenn's Music)
1 Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)--Raiders (2nd week at #1)
2 Garden of Ursh--Karen Young
3 Timothy--The Buoys
4 I Am...I Said--Neil Diamond
5 Chick-A-Boom (Don't Ya Jes' Love It)--Daddy Dewdrop
6 If--Bread
7 Love Her Madly--The Doors
8 Albert Flasher--The Guess Who
9 Eighteen--Alice Cooper
10 Brown Sugar--The Rolling Stones
Pick hit of the week: We were Always Sweethearts--Boz Scaggs

At the movies
North of Superior, a travelogue produced, directed, and photographed by Graeme Ferguson, received its premiere screening at the Cinesphere at Ontario Place in Toronto as the facility's first official IMAX film.



Disasters
At least 800 people were killed and hundreds injured when an earthquake struck eastern Turkey, virtually flattening all of Bingol, near its epicentre.

All 70 passengers were saved, but 32 crewmen perished in a fire on the Norwegian cruise ship Meteor in the Strait of Georgia, northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia.

A truck carrying 70 members of a wedding party fell into the Girna River near Malegaon, India, drowning 43.

40 years ago
1981

Hit parade #1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Köppäbävisan--Bengt Pegefelt (3rd week at #1)

#1 single in France (IFOP): In the Air Tonight--Phil Collins (2nd week at #1)

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 This Ole House--Shakin' Stevens
2 Antmusic--Adam & the Ants
3 Twilight Café--Susan Fassbender
4 I am the Beat--Look
5 Johnny and Mary--Robert Palmer
6 Here is My Love--Tommy Dee
7 Spend the Night in Love--The Four Seasons
8 Woman--John Lennon
9 9 to 5--Dolly Parton
10 Shaddap You Face--Joe Dolce Music Theatre

The only single entering the chart was Keep on Loving You by REO Speedwagon (#18).

Died on this date
Bill Bayne, 82. U.S. baseball pitcher. Mr. Bayne played with the St. Louis Browns (1919-1924); Cleveland Indians (1928); and Boston Red Sox (1929-1930), compiling a record of 31-32 with an earned run average of 4.84 in 199 games, batting .290 with 1 home run and 13 runs batted in. He won at least 143 games and lost at least 103 in 398 games in 12 seasons in the minor leagues (1919, 1924-1937). Mr. Bayne died after a long illness.

Crime
Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, was sentenced at the Old Bailey in London to life imprisonment on 13 counts of murder and 7 of attempted murder between 1976 and 1981.

Baseball
Coach Billy Gardner replaced the fired Johnny Goryl as manager of the Minnesota Twins, who had started the season 11-25 and had lost their last 8 games under Mr. Goryl. The Twins won their first game under Mr. Gardner, blanking the Kansas City Royals 7-0 before 34,052 fans at Royals Stadium, as Jerry Koosman (2-6) pitched a 6-hit shutout. Mr. Goryl had assumed the Twins’ managerial duties with 36 games remaining in the 1980 season and had piloted them to a 23-13 record.

Dusty Baker hit a solo home run in the top of the 1st inning and singled home 2 runs in the 12th to break a 2-2 tie as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-2 before 27,943 fans at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. It was the first major league game for third base umpire Randy Marsh.

The San Francisco Giants scored 3 runs in the top of the 15th inning to break a 3-3 tie as they defeated the Houston Astros 6-3 before 30,377 fans at the Astrodome. San Francisco center fielder Jerry Martin batted 4 for 6 with 2 runs batted in.

30 years ago
1991

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): Wind of Change--Scorpions (3rd week at #1)

Died on this date
Shripad Amrit Dange, 91. Indian politician. Mr. Dange was a longtime Communist who was Chairman of the Communist Party of India (1962-1978), and respresented Bombay Central (1957-1962) and Bombay Central South (1967-1970) in the Lok Sabha. Increasing rifts in the Communist Party led to his expulsion in 1981, so he became leader of the new All India Communist Party, which failed to achieve electoral success, and merged into the United Communist Party of India in 1987.

Society
The United Nations Development Program 1991 report found Canada to be the second-best country in which to live after Japan; the report praised the education and health systems.

Baseball
John Wathan, who had managed the Kansas City Royals since 1987, was fired, with the team off to a 15-22 start for 1991. Coach Bob Schaefer replaced him for one game--and won--before Hal McRae assumed the job on a permanent basis. The team’s best season under Mr. Wathan was 1989, when the Royals posted a record of 92-70, second in the American League West Division, 7 games behind the Oakland Athletics.

25 years ago
1996

World events
The Burmese military regime jailed 71 supporters of activist Aung San Suu Kyi in a bid to block a pro-democracy meeting.

10 years ago
2011

Died on this date
Joe Brooks, 73. U.S. songwriter and director. Mr. Brooks, born Joseph Kaplan, failed to achieve success as a singer-songwriter in the 1950s and '60s, but was very successful at writing commercial jingles. He was best known for the movie You Light Up My Life (1977), which he wrote, produced, directed and scored. The title song won the Academy Award for original song, and Debby Boone's recording was the decade's biggest hit, earning Mr. Brooks a Grammy Award for Song of the Year. Mr. Brooks followed this with the movie If Ever I See You Again (1978), which he co-wrote, produced, directed, scored, and played the leading role. The movie bombed at the box office, and Mr. Brooks failed to have subsequent success. He suffered a stroke in 2008, and in 2009 was indicted for sexually assaulting women at his apartment who had been recruited with movie acting offers. Mr. Brooks was facing 91 charges and was facing financial problems and declining health when he committed suicide by putting a platic bag over his head and pumping helium into it.

Disasters
An EF5 tornado struck Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and wreaking $2.8 billion in damages, the costliest and seventh-deadliest single tornado in U.S. history.